As the rather close, 203-175 vote indicates, the ban still had its supporters. One of those supporters, Sue Walker, said that, "There is gaming all over the place, and there's nothing fun about it. I mean, have you played 'Demon's Souls'? I died something like 50 times in the first hour. And what the hell is with with the tiny city sizes in the new Sim City? I can't have a university and a stadium in the same city? Screw that."

"The games are said to be addictive to youth, who will skip school and spend unreasonable sums of money to play them at a quarter -- and sometimes 50 cents -- a pop, says Thomas R. Jackson, a retired narcotics agent and the resident who proposed the ban. Further, he says, gambling and drug activity are connected to the video game locations where youth congregate unsupervised."

That's awesome. As is:

He believes that video games help children learn social skills, hone their problem-solving skills, and encourage creative thinking.

codigo:What prompted the ban back in 1982? The Patriot Ledger writes it was because some believed arcade games attracted an "undesirable element."

I agree. Teenagers with pockets full of quarters are very undesirable.

Yeah. What business wants to attract people with poor decision making skills, act rashly to satisfy short term desires, and have disposable income?

There's nothing wrong with video games. And Pac Man, specifically? Harmless. If Pac Man had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.

groppet:In high school the mall and the arcade was the first 2 places they looked for people skipping school, so only the idiots were caught.

If I skipped school, the last places I went were the mall or arcade. I was usually at a friend's house, a girlfriend's house, or hanging out in the city under the bridge where we had a boombox and a beat-up old couch. Ol' Shaky Jake might wander by sometimes and say "howza-howza-howza-how do!" and we'd stop our teenage hi-jinks and laugh, mostly because Shaky Jake was doing something strange like wearing only one shoe, or carrying a guitar that he didn't know how to play.

We might wander over to the Painted Pony to buy comics, but the guy who owned it was a bit on the creepy side and would leer at the girls, sometimes even letting a little drool dribble from the side of his mouth... As an adult I have to wonder if it wasn't that he was a pervert so much as he might have had some condition that caused him to leer and drool-- A stroke, maybe? I don't know, and at 16 I didn't care. Besides, when he got too weird, we started hanging out at Dave's shop instead. Dave was cool, and wouldn't narc on us or leer at the girls.

In the afternoons we'd go to Tony's for some fries (a single order was a giant plate full of them; enough for four or five teenagers) or do some clothes shopping at the local, beloved thrift shops. We sometimes stopped at the soda fountain on the corner and got phosphates, shakes, or egg creams. The antique shop down the way was a great source of entertainment, as they had really old clothes and magazines to look through.

If the right person was at the ticket window, we'd go to see a show at the old theater, and then head up to the balcony and enjoy being unseen by the rest of the audience.

No, we saved the arcade for the weekends or after school. We knew better than to go to the mall (where the arcade was located) in the daytime. The mall security guards were dicks, and would rat us out. They barely tolerated our group during the weekends, after school, or in the summertime. Something about our multi-colored hair, mohawks, fishnets, Doc Martins, and jackets covered in safety pins or buttons (the kind with slogans or pictures on them, not the kind you use to secure things) made the rent-a-cops nervous-- or perhaps they were just jealous of our youth. Either way, Aladdin's Castle was empty in the middle of a school day, except for a few adults who had Pac-Man fever and the one pinball wizard in his 50s who snarled at anyone disturbing his groove. I swear, the guy must have had dents on his dick from all the bumping he did to that machine.

CtrlAltDestroy:codigo: What prompted the ban back in 1982? The Patriot Ledger writes it was because some believed arcade games attracted an "undesirable element."

I agree. Teenagers with pockets full of quarters are very undesirable.

Yeah. What business wants to attract people with poor decision making skills, act rashly to satisfy short term desires, and have disposable income?

There's nothing wrong with video games. And Pac Man, specifically? Harmless. If Pac Man had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.

Theaetetus:As the rather close, 203-175 vote indicates, the ban still had its supporters. One of those supporters, Sue Walker, said that, "There is gaming all over the place, and there's nothing fun about it. I mean, have you played 'Demon's Souls'? I died something like 50 times in the first hour. And what the hell is with with the tiny city sizes in the new Sim City? I can't have a university and a stadium in the same city? Screw that."

Nix Nightbird:groppet: In high school the mall and the arcade was the first 2 places they looked for people skipping school, so only the idiots were caught.

If I skipped school, the last places I went were the mall or arcade. I was usually at a friend's house, a girlfriend's house, or hanging out in the city under the bridge where we had a boombox and a beat-up old couch. Ol' Shaky Jake might wander by sometimes and say "howza-howza-howza-how do!" and we'd stop our teenage hi-jinks and laugh, mostly because Shaky Jake was doing something strange like wearing only one shoe, or carrying a guitar that he didn't know how to play.

We might wander over to the Painted Pony to buy comics, but the guy who owned it was a bit on the creepy side and would leer at the girls, sometimes even letting a little drool dribble from the side of his mouth... As an adult I have to wonder if it wasn't that he was a pervert so much as he might have had some condition that caused him to leer and drool-- A stroke, maybe? I don't know, and at 16 I didn't care. Besides, when he got too weird, we started hanging out at Dave's shop instead. Dave was cool, and wouldn't narc on us or leer at the girls.

In the afternoons we'd go to Tony's for some fries (a single order was a giant plate full of them; enough for four or five teenagers) or do some clothes shopping at the local, beloved thrift shops. We sometimes stopped at the soda fountain on the corner and got phosphates, shakes, or egg creams. The antique shop down the way was a great source of entertainment, as they had really old clothes and magazines to look through.

If the right person was at the ticket window, we'd go to see a show at the old theater, and then head up to the balcony and enjoy being unseen by the rest of the audience.

No, we saved the arcade for the weekends or after school. We knew better than to go to the mall (where the arcade was located) in the daytime. The mall security guards were dicks, and would rat us out. They barely tolerate ...

I observed a lot of the same back in the 80's but it was a cart/horse, chicken/egg. nature/nurture things. Arcades had to be a little dark because angled, relatively weak displays catch a lot of reflections. But the father of a kid I was friends with for couple of years owned two arcades (yay free games) and he was always trying to open a third. His first two were the typical dank pits of vice and despair but he wanted to open one in a better location, have it be a little more brightly lit and be a cleaner better environment basically because he did not like bringing his own kid to where he had his arcades. That needs to start with a lease in a better area but he could never get one because arcades "gathered a bad element." I can remember him talking about it with my dad "Of course they do if you only allow them in shiat holes" But if you wanted to pay the (apparently insane) licensing fee for a mouse with moronic animatronics, then you could build one anywhere. Beyond that it was always in a dying mall in the deadest arm of the mall or strip mall in a dodgy area. Right about the time we moved, he sold the leases to both, kept a few of his favorite consoles and left the industry. Always was a shame because he really was trying to be one of the good guys.

Fark like a Barsoomian:DOCTORD000M: Sybarite: They were just trying to protect kids from the inevitable consequences.

[killstreakmedia.com image 608x464]

I have a vague recollection of this... Is that Emilio Estevez? What's the title of this? I want to see it again.

Teh Goggles says it's "The Bishop of Battle" from the anthology "Nightmares." All of which I've never seen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightmares_%281983_film%29

yep - that's it, for some random reason we used to watch that flick a whole bunch on VHS back in the day (top loader VCR baby!) - I remember the band Fear being in the soundtrack (in that segment with Estevez) but didn't know that Lee Ving was in the flick until that Wiki post. Thanks!

CtrlAltDestroy:So, are therr any of these neat arcades or arcade hybrids around Chicago? I know about Galloping Ghost but that's all.

What about St. Louis? I'll be going there in a few short weeks, and would love to hit one of these places, if anyone can recommend a good one. Many of the listings look like places that -sell- games, not a real arcade- like the old 80s type with actual games instead of stupid ticket-games like D&B has.

There was once a "Pinball/video game Museum" very close to the arch, but it had closed down the last time I was there, many years ago.